Day 11: A bright light woke me up early Sunday morning, June
3rd. It was the reading light on my side of the bed. Donna woke up early
and wanted to read. The light switches in the room were all weird, and
she could only get the light on my side of the bed to come on. About 7
AM, we went down for breakfast. We sat with Noreen and Jasmine. It was
the last time we'd have a meal with the folks we'd traveled all over Britain
with. Most of them would be leaving the country that day.

The London afternoon tour we'd signed up for didn't get started until
1 PM. The plan was for us to meet up with the bus at the travel agency's
office. I had it figured out that we could take the Underground to the
nearest station and just walk there. Back in the room, we started to get
anxious about catching the bus. Plus, we had time to explore before taking
off, so we decided to start walking. In the lobby, we met up again with
most of the tour as they waited for their bus to the airport. Noreen waved
goodbye, saying, "Have fun, kids!"

That day's tour was not a Trafalgar tour, but one run by a different
company. We had to meet up with the coach at the company's office at 1
PM. Fortunately, it was just a couple of blocks from Victoria Station.
I'd been wanting to ride the Underground while in London. This was our
chance. Walking up Kensington High Street that Sunday morning, we passed
Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church. It was destroyed by German bombing
in 1940, but rebuilt in the 1950's. At the Underground station, we paid
4 pounds each for 1-way tickets to Victoria. I wondered what kept people
from getting on and just riding wherever they wanted, but the Underground
had machines that read your tickets before and after getting on. We went
down a stairway to the platforms. There wasn't much of a wait at all. The
schedule listed a train running every 10 minutes or so. When the trains
arrive, an automated voice announces where it's going. We caught our train,
and moments later we were zooming along. A couple of women with a baby
stroller were sitting down from us. After a couple of stops, we arrived
at Victoria Station. I would've taken a picture while on the train, but
the ride was over so quickly. Out on the platform and up the stairs we
went.

Victoria was one station for the Underground and bus services, and
another big station for trains going all over Britain. Inside the big station,
it looked like it had expanded so much it took over the adjoining streets.
I imagined every famous person in Great Britain probably went through Victoria
Station at least once. We walked a couple of blocks over and found the
tour office with no trouble at all. The blocks were pretty short. We still
had time, so Donna asked for directions to Westminster. Claudia, the dark-haired
girl at the desk, said to go to "the top of the street" (not the next corner)
and take a right. We passed several expensive-looking businesses, including
the House of Fraser. There was some construction on the street. We walked
under a huge crane. Further down, we came to Westminster Cathedral. It
had a different look to it than most of the churches we'd seen, almost
Middle Eastern. The cathedral was different from Westminster Abbey, which
was a couple of blocks down the street. We couldn't go in because it was
Sunday, and there was a service going on. There's a huge Methodist church
right across the street from Westminster Abbey. Around the corner was the
Church of St. Margaret. Peeking out from behind the spire of St. Margaret's
loomed... Big Ben! We were in Parliament Square. Big Ben was tall and decorated
with much more shiny metal than I'd expected. We walked down towards the
Thames River. Beyond, the London Eye observation wheel dominated the skyline.

Planes and helicopters circled overhead. Vendors sold memorabilia, including
"Simpsons" t-shirts. We went down into the Westminster Underground station,
and took the tunnel under the street to Whitehall. There wasn't any place
to sit. Back up in Parliament Square, we found a shady place to sit near
the statue of George Canning, who served as prime minister for 119 days
in 1827. Nearby, in front of the Middlesex Guildhall, was a statue of Abraham
Lincoln, the first statue of Lincoln erected outside the United States.
A statue of Winston Churchill stood across the street. On the way back,
we looked down a side street and considered hitting a pub before the tour.
However, it was Sunday, and every place we passed was closed. We cooled
off in the tour office. Slowly, a group of tourists arrived to join us.
Right before 1 PM, we loaded on board a coach and took off.

Our guide was an outgoing buy named Trevor. He seemed to like his job,
and enjoyed talking about London. The first thing we did was head for the
City of London– a separate entity from Greater London, sometimes called
the Square Mile. This was the heart of London's business center. About
8,000 people live there, but about 300,000 work there. Across the river,
we could see the headquarters of MI-6, England's international spy center.
The coach also took us by the ordinary office building that used to be
the headquarters of MI-5, which conducts domestic intelligence. The location
of MI-5 was, for years, a state secret, unknown to everyone... except London
cab drivers. It made me think of the old British TV show "The Avengers."
Since John Steed investigated international and domestic crimes, the joke
was that he worked for MI-5 ½.

We also saw the 40-story office building Londoners have nicknamed "The
Towering Innuendo."

I thought we
were going to stop at St. Paul's Cathedral, but all we did was drive by
it. We went down the hilly Fleet Street, famous for all the newspapers
that had offices there. Fleet Street became synonymous with print media.
The newspapers have all moved away, but the nickname remained. Charles
Dickens once worked nearby. The coach took us through Parliament Square
(which we just walked through), and Trevor pointed out some tents at one
end of the square. It was an anti-war protest that had been camped out
there for years. He talked about the London Eye, and said that since it
was sponsored by British Airways, a ride on the wheel is called a "flight."
There is a statue of Oliver Cromwell around the corner from Parliament
Square. Appropriately, Cromwell is facing a model of the head of Charles
I, set in a wall across the street.

We rode under Caring Cross Bridge and past Cleopatra's Needle.We crossed
to the other side of the Thames, then returned by coming back over Tower
Bridge. We could see the HMS Belfast anchored just down river. From
there, we went to the Tower of London.

The original White Tower was built right after the Norman Conquest,
and the grounds expanded over the centuries into a huge complex. It was
much bigger than I imagined. Inside the walls, it was like a little town
in itself. The moat has since dried up, but you can still see where it
was. We walked past Traitor's Gate, where prisoners were taken to the Tower.
We went to see the Crown Jewels, and they were breathtaking... as soon
as we got to them. The crowns and jewelry are secured inside the Tower
grounds in a building called Jewel House. The interior is designed for
hundreds of people to see the jewels, so they have queues set up in front
of video screens so that people will have something to watch while they
wait in line. That day, however, there were no crowds, so we got right
in. Or would have, if the lines hadn't been held up by people standing
still watching the videos. We got around them finally. The cases of
the Crown Jewels themselves are surrounded by moving sidewalks, so people
don't linger too long. They were absolutely gorgeous. I think my favorite
was Queen Victoria's tiny crown, not much bigger than a softball.

Inside the White Tower, there were displays and exhibits in every room,
but it didn't seem crowded. The collection of swords and muskets was wonderful.
One suit of armor had plating I'd never seen before. The Tower of London
is another place I could spend all day at.

We hurried back to the coach, which then took us to our boat cruise on
the Thames. That was fun and relaxing. We puttered up the river and back
down again for about an hour. It was neat to see the city from the river's
vantage. The tour guide pointed out a row of expensive office buildings
next to the new London Bridge; they were all owned by the government of
Kuwait. Back from the cruise, we walked past the Battle of Britain memorial,
commemorating those that were killed in the great air battle defending
the British Isles.

By then, it was after 5. Trevor had the driver drop some people off on
our way back to the tour office, so he obliged us by dropping me and Donna
back at the Kensington High Street Underground station. From there, we
walked back to the hotel. We confirmed with the Trafalgar rep that the
bus to catch our plane at Heathrow left the hotel at 8:30 the next morning.
Once we had all the details worked out, supper was a priority. Donna was
going to take a hot bath. She suggested I go find some take-away (not "take-out")
food for us to eat in the room. She didn't care what it was. Back out on
the sidewalk in front of the hotel, I started walking the opposite way
from where we'd gone before. I walked past the Kensington Olympia convention
center, contemplated Lebanese restaurant, then found Red Planet Pizza on
North End Road, across from St. Mary's Protestant Mission. I ordered a
veggie pizza for her and some chicken wings for me. Two girls wearing what
looked like stewardess uniforms waited for their pizzas with me. On the
way back, I stopped in a little store and picked up a couple bottles of
Guinness. The food really hit the spot. We stayed in the room the rest
of the evening. On TV, it was fun to watch "Doctor Who" –in England! We
watched a show about a vegetable competition at some little county fair,
and then I watched a program called "Coast." It was a documentary series
about the British coastline. The show started with the northern coast of
the Shetland Islands, at a place called Muckle Flugga. (It's funnier if
you say it with a Scottish accent.) We packed and repacked the suitcases,
trying to protect the breakable stuff we got. I had too much. I finally
declared it done and went to bed. The next day was going to be a long one.